General Law School Information
Mission
The mission of the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law is to serve society and the legal profession by educating law students in the highest traditions of the profession, by contributing to the marketplace of ideas, and by service to the community and nation. Students are the life of the school, and the reason for its existence. In serving students we serve society. What society most wants and most needs from our nation's law schools are students who will enter the profession imbued with a commitment to delivering legal services of the highest quality to clients, students with a strong sense of the traditions and values of the profession, students with a strong sense of social responsibility, including a desire to treat service to the community, in what ever form it may take, as an essential element of the life of a lawyer. Our faculty and students also serve society by engaging in research and scholarship of the highest quality, and by dedication to community and national service.
History
The University of Richmond originated in 1830 and a decade later was chartered as Richmond College, an institution of liberal arts and sciences. The Law School was established within the college in 1870. In 1890, the family of the late T.C. Williams, who had been a devoted and valued trustee, donated $ 25,000 as the nucleus of an endowment for the Law School. In recognition of this gift, the school was named The T.C. Williams School of Law. At various times, the school has received further generous gifts from members of Mr. Williams' family. A substantial gift came through a bequest from T.C. Williams, Jr., who, like his father, was long a trustee of Richmond College, and for twenty years, was the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. The largest of these gifts was received in 1952 by bequest from A.D. Williams, another son of T.C. Williams..
Accreditation
The Law School is fully accredited by the recognized standardizing agencies in the United States. It is a member of the Association of American Law Schools; it is on the approved lists of the American Bar Association and the Virginia State Board of Bar Examiners; and its Juris Doctor degree is fully accredited by the Regents of the University of the State of New York. Although each state has its own requirements for admission to the bar, a law degree from the Law School qualifies the holder to seek admission to the bar in any state in the nation and in the District of Columbia. Additional information about accreditation may be found at http://www.abanet.org/legaled/resources/contactus.html
Location
The University of Richmond campus consists of 350 acres located about six miles west of the center of the city of Richmond, Virginia. The Law School building, of Collegiate Gothic architecture, was originally opened in 1954, and it was enlarged in 1972 and 1981. In 1991, the building was significantly expanded, renovated, and refurbished. The Law School building now provides modern and technologically equipped classrooms, seminar rooms, an expansive law library, a beautiful courtroom, faculty and administrative offices, faculty and student lounges, and offices for most student organizations.
Richmond, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is where the Virginia General Assembly holds its annual sessions and where the Supreme Court of Virginia sits. The Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit also hold regular terms here. In addition, the State Corporation Commission, the Industrial Commission, and many federal administrative agencies hold hearings in the city. Washington, D.C., home to the United States Supreme Court, is only a two-hour drive from Richmond. Thus, students find, in addition to the formal law school program, unsurpassed opportunities for observation of the legal process at work in various legislative, judicial, and administrative departments of the local, state, and federal governments.